The invention relates to a push-button switch comprising a slidable member which is displaceable by means of a control member and which is made of a synthetic resin material. The sliding member operates a contact device and comprises a cruciform head which is provided on an end of the slidable member facing the control member and which is secured in a cruciform socket in the control member by a projection on one member engaging in a recess in the other member. The slidable member comprises two flexible elongate guide members which are slidable in two guide channels in a support for the slidable member. The guide channels are arranged with their open sides facing each other, and the guide members include projections which cooperate with abutments on the support.
In a push-button switch of the above-described kind, which is known from British Patent Specification 1,219,022, each of two flexible guide members which are situated in the same plane comprises a projection which cooperates with a corresponding abutment in the support. The diametrically oppositely situated abutments in the support are formed by the end walls of openings provided in the wall of the support. For mounting the slidable member in the support, the guide members must be deflected towards each other, after which the slidable member can be inserted into the guide channels of the support and can subsequently be hooked into the openings by way of its projections.
In order to prevent undesirable rotation of the control member and the slidable member, the distance between the guide elements must be comparatively large in the known push-button switch, while the thickness of the flexible guide members (viewed transversely of the plane of the two guide members) should be as accurate as possible. The latter requirement can be simply satisfied, because the thickness of the guide legs is only comparatively small. However, it is very difficult to satisfy the former requirement, because the comparatively large distance between the bottoms of the two guide channels necessarily entails a larger dimensional deviation. Obviously, this is also applicable to the bearing faces of the guide members. Consequently, the guide members will always slide along a connecting line between the guide channels.
In the known push-button switch, removal of the slidable member is impossible without dismantling the entire switch. This is because in the assembled condition the guide members can be moved towards each other only from the lower side in order to release the projections on the guide members from the openings in the support.